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Girl Time

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Clarissa in a nutshell

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Sometimes I can’t believe Clarissa is two already. And sometimes I can’t believe she’s only two.

Clarissa has grown so much this year. Since her last birthday, she has learned to walk, run, jump, climb, dance, and move any other way you can think of. She can talk your ear off (though it still isn’t always in English). My big girl only nurses before bed now and she rarely nurses to sleep anymore. Clarissa has actually become a great sleeper. She usually sleeps 10-11 hours straight at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap each day.

Clarissa seemed interested in pee and poop a lot when we first moved in to our apartment so we bought her a princess potty. She promptly used it to both pee and poop once each and has yet to really try again in the past six months. She doesn’t seem as averse to diaper changes these days. Though she will tell me if she needs one lately. She picked out some princess underwear at the PX, but she doesn’t really want to wear it yet. The first couple of days, she just wanted to hold the package and bring it to bed with her.

Clarissa likes to wear dresses, fancy shoes, and bracelets. But pony tails are strictly forbidden (unless of course they are being used as a bracelet). This week, she really wanted some Frozen hair clips at the PX. She wants to wear all six of them in her hair at once. Clarissa doesn’t really like me to brush her hair either. A comb after bathtime seems to be okay though. Recently, she has started to be particular about what she wants to wear. Sometimes she wears pajamas outside (she has Tayo and Lani pajamas). She likes to put her shoes on herself, which means that they are almost always on the wrong foot. She loves building with blocks, climbing on the playground, and going the wrong way on the slide. Clarissa prefers trucks, busses, and trains to baby dolls.

She loves to read! (She actually got second place in the summer reading program for number of books read–and I didn’t write them all down!) I guess I should say, she loves books. She enjoys looking at them and she can point to the pictures and tell you what most of them are. We spend at least a half hour per day of me actually reading to her.

She also loves to sing and dance. She can keep time remarkably well, especially for a two year old. Lately she has also been interested in painting.

Food is hit or miss. When she first started solids, she would eat pretty much anything we put in front of her. Since we have moved to Korea, she has gotten pickier. She loves pizza, ice cream, and donuts. Who doesn’t?! She will eat peanut butter anything. Clarissa will also eat cheese, yogurt, English muffins, breakfast sausage, and scrambled eggs. Fruit and vegetable consumption is rare unless it is a fruit squeeze. Some days she likes a fruit and the next day she won’t touch it. Apples and bananas seem to be consistent though.

Common sayings and their translations:

“Mama (or Daddy) tay?” are you okay? (used if I sneeze, or if the bus moves while I am standing and holding her and we move a bit)
“o tay” okay (can sound really pitiful or really happy)
“e dat?” Do you hear that?
“help you” I need help
“hold you” I want you to hold me
“yike it” I don’t like it (usually said while shaking her head or having a meltdown)
“tank you” thank you. Sometimes she will say “welcome” if I say “you’re welcome” but please is very rare at this point
“fix it” whenever something isn’t doing what she wants it too, it is assumed to be broken. If I say it doesn’t work a certain way, she immediately goes to find Tim and says “Daddy fix it!”
New this week: “o minutes please” We have been limiting her screen time as well as trying to warn her when her playtime is almost over so she won’t freak out at mealtimes, naptime, and bedtime. So she has started asking for more minutes!

Clarissa has two friends, Jensen and Haven. She asks for them all the time. She likes to run around with them and have adventures but she is not great at sharing yet. One friend is about six months older and the other about eight months. But age doesn’t matter to Clarissa. She tries to play with all children under the age of ten and calls them “friends.” She hasn’t figured out that she is younger yet. Teenagers and adults are “people.”

Happy birthday Baby Bear! I am so glad God chose me to be your mommy! I can’t wait to see how much you grow this next year.